S 699 
.B615 
Copy 1 



S 699 
.B615 
Copy 1 



BEFORE THE 



§mmm of the United £tatttf. 



I N r U H E M A T T E R F 

OHN C. BlRDSELL, PETITIONER, 



FOB AN 



Act authorizing I he Commissioner of Patents to 

hear and determine his Application for 

Extension of his Letters- Patent for 

MACHINERY FOR HULLING AND THRESHING CLOVER. 



AFFIDAVITS IN SUPPORT of the PETITION. 



Thomas McOill & Co., Printers, Washington. I> C 




C---p 



-£.<=> 



6 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss : 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and county, 
personally appeared J. Benjamin Birdsell, and being by me 
duly sworn, deposes and says: That he has been for many 
years the book-keeper and the treasurer of the Birdsell Manu- 
facturing Company of South Bend, Indiana; that he is a son 
of the petitioner, John C. Birdsell, and has been engaged 
constantly in the business with his father since before the 
war and to the present time ; that he assisted in preparing 
the statement of receipts and expenditures embraced in the 
petition of the said John C. Birdsell, and believes it to be cor- 
rect and true in all essential respects and particulars, having 
been prepared, as far as possible, from such books and data 
in their possession as have not been destroyed by lire or lost, 
as set forth in the said statement; but, where other items 
have been estimated, he believes the estimates to be sub- 
stantially correct, and that the final summary is substantially 
accurate, and shows the proper indebtedness of the patent to 
the petitioner. 

In the Ohio suits between John C. Birdsell and the Ash- 
land Machine Company, and against McDonald & Co., the 
defendants frequently boasted that they would crush Mr. 
Birdsell with money, and oblige him to give up, and that 
they would then have the field to themselves. To this end 
they expended large sums of money to elaborate their defense, 
and extended their research and investigations all over the 
country. The said defendants, and others of the combination 
that contributed to the defense, were reputed to be very 
wealthy, and unquestionably expended much more in the 
defense than Mr. Birdsell did in the prosecution, for both said 
companies failed before final decree, as did also the Glen & 
Hall Manufacturing Company of Rochester; and all the 
others of the said combination made overtures to settle rather 
than to longer contest the suits. 



The great mass of the infringing machines have heen made 
and put upon the market since the extension of the patent in 
1872, after a severe contest in the Patent Office with the 
very parties who afterwards made and sold the machines. 
They were, therefore, all fully advised of the rights secured 
to John C. Birdsell by the patent, and their infringement 
was willful and deliberate. Moreover, as far as we have 
been able to discover, all of the said infringing machines 
were sold with guarantees against liability to the Birdsell 
patent, so that the parties who purchased did so with due 
notice of Mr. Birdsell's rights, and have their redress against 
their guarantors. The Birdsell machines are, by all odds, the 
best machines in the market, not a single one having ever 
been returned to the company as unsatisfactory, though fully 
warranted. 

J. B. Birdsell. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 18th day of Jan- 
uary, 1878. 0. B. Maples, 
[l. s.] Notary Public. 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Threshing and Hulling 
Clover. ° 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss: 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and county 
personally appeared Byron A. Birdsell, and being by me 
duly sworn, he deposes and says: I reside at South Bend 
Indiana; am a son of the petitioner; am thirty years of age' 
and my occupation is General Superintendent of the Birdsell 
Manufacturing Company. I have, during my whole life, 
since I was able to do work, been engaged with my father in 
the clover-machine business. I have carefully perused the 
statement subscribed by him, and accompanying his said peti- 
tion to Congress ; and, because of my great familiarity with 
the business m all its details and with its past history, I believe 
the statements therein contained to be correct and true. 

Deponent also says, that the business has been so inter- 
fered with by infringers, that the said John C. Birdsell and 
the company have not been able to realize anything from the 
said letters-patent; that this has been particularly true during 
the term of the extension since 1872, in the whole of which 
period the action of infringers was redoubled; and, havino- 
established a combination amongst themselves to contribute 
to the defense of all suits brought against its members, the 
litigation against them was exhausting in the extreme, and 
involved our company in enormous sums to carry the 'suits 
to a successful issue. The market is now left flooded with 
infringing machines, which to that extent destroys the mar- 
ket i'ov our own. Deponent believes that if the said pat- 
ent is extended, the said petitioner can realize a fair remu- 
neration for his invention, and for his time, ingenuity, and 
expense bestowed upon it, and its introduction into public 
use. The financial crisis of the past three years has likewise 
greatly embarrassed our company, as it has all manufacturing 
establishments. 

The defendants in the Ohio cases of John C. Birdsell v. 
McDonald & Co., and against the Ashland Machine Com- 
pany, must have expended a very much greater sum of 
money in defending the said suits, than did John C. Birdsell 
m prosecuting them ; for although the defendants boasted of 



their money-power to crush Mr. Birdsell out of existence or 
into submission, yet, before final decree was obtained, both 
said companies, together with the Glen & Hall Manufacturing 
Company, a contributor to the defense, failed with very great 
liabilities, amounting, in the aggregate, to about a million 
dollars, more or less. 

The infringing machines in the market have nearly all 
been made and sold since the date of the extension in 1872, 
and by the same parties who at that time combined to oppose 
the extension. They were, therefore, made and sold with a 
full knowledge of John C. Birdsell'a rights in the premises, 
but with the "expectation that they could use him up with 
money. 

So far, also, as we can ascertain, all such machines were 
sold with an express guarantee against the Birdsell patent. 
The purchasers, therefore, purchased with their eyes open, 
and have their recourse against their guarantors, and have 
no just ground for complaint. Moreover, our machines were 
always in the open market, and were admitted to be superior 
to any other machine ; a fact attested by the circumstance 
that not a single one of the Birdsell machines were ever 
returned as unsatisfactory, although fully warranted. 

Byron A. Birdsell. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 18th day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. 0. B. Maples, 

[l. s.] Notary Public. 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss : 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and 
county, personally appeared Edwin St. John, and being by 
me duly sworn, deposes and says : I reside at South Bend, 
Indiana ; am forty-one years of age, and am by occupation 
millwright. I formerly resided at Henrietta, New York. I 
am acquainted with the petitioner, John C. Birdsell; am 
familiar with the invention described in his letters-patent, 
reissue No. 1299, sought to be extended ; was familiar also 
with the state of the art of getting out clover-seed, as it ex- 
isted prior to the time of his said invention. Mr. Birdsell's 
invention marked a grand stride in the art— a great depart- 
ure from what had before been done. Mr. Birdsell's machine 
was designed to take the clover on the straw and thresh the 
heads from it, separate the heads from the stems, hull the 
seeds from the heads, and clean and gather the seed — all in 
one single, continuous operation. 

Before that time, the getting out of the seed required sev- 
eral distinct operations and several handlings of the material, 
which, by consuming time and requiring great labor, added 
largely to the cost of the seed in the market. Clover was 
generally gathered by stripping the heads from the straw in 
the field, so as to leave the straw standing. The heads were 
then subjected to the trampling of horses, or to the action of 
flails, in order to hull out the seed. The mass was then 
raked, to remove the larger straws, and the smaller ones were 
separated by passing the mass through a bolt, and the seed 
afterwards gathered and cleaned in a fanning-mill. Or, as 
was sometimes the case, the clover would be gathered on the 
long straw, then the whole put through an ordinary grain- 
thresher to thresh the heads therefrom and to separate the 
heads from the straw\ The mass would then be raked, to 
remove the longer stems that remained with the heads and 
chaff, and then it would be bolted, to separate such stems as 
eluded the raking process. The chaff would then be shoveled 
several times through a hulliug-machine, in order to hull the 



seed from the bolts. Both processes required much hand- 
ling—the first also entailed much loss of seed in stripping, 
and by imperfect trampling or flailing. The hitter process 
likewise wasted much seed in unthreshed heads, passed out 
with the straw to the stack. 

I am aware of the fact that Mr. Birdsell has labored against 
the greatest embarrassments ever since the grant of his letters- 
patent. The financial crisis of 1857-58, followed by the war, 
both served to paralyze his business, as it did also nearly every 
other agricultural interest in the country. After the war, and 
until 1867 and 1868, the chief agricultural produd was grain, 
and not clover. Having been unable to derive remuneration 
for his invention, Mr. Birdsell applied for an extension 
of his patent in 1872. There being great opposition 
by infringers, he was obliged to expend large sums 
of money before he could secure the extension. This 
crippled him greatly at the beginning of his extension, 
and the action of the infringers thereafter, necessitating very 
many suits at law and equity, and the expenditure of enor- 
mous sums on his parr, and extending during ^wvy moment 
of his whole extended term, kept him constantly in debt, and 
obliged him to proceed against the greatest odds. 

Coupled with these difficulties, during his extended term, 
has been the recent financial crisis, beginning with the failure of 
Jay Cooke cv Co., which almost utterly destroyed manufactur- 
ing interests throughout the country. And. from my knowl- 
edge of his affairs and the general expressions of the commun- 
ity in which he has been doing business, I know that, instead 
of deriving profit from his invention, he has been constantly 
laboring against large indebtedness, created by his efforts to 
maintain his rights under his patent, and that.' until the last 
two seasons, he had realized no benefit from his invention. 
The feeling in our community was so sympathetic towards 
him, owing to his energy and perseverance in defending his 
rights against a coalition of infringers, and in the face of 
enormous indebtedness, that at the time he obtained decrees 
in Ohio sustaining his patent and establishing his rights under 
it, the telegraphic news to that effect was sent by the 
operator to all the manufacturing establishments at South 
Bend, Lid., and they simultaneously Mowed their whistles 
and rang their bells for a space of half an hour. 

Mr. Birdsell's invention has affected the whole country. 
It reduced the cost of getting out clover-seed from one to 
two dollars per busheCthus bringing clover-seed within the 
reach of all — rich and poor alike." It also established a 



clover-seed-producing industry, which did not before exist 
because of the previous high price of seed which greatly 
limited the number of consumers. It put within ready reach 
of all, the means for enriching and maintaining their soil at 
slight expense, it being customary to turn under, for this 
purpose, a crop of clover about once in three or five years. 
"Wherever clover-seed is raised in the United States, Mr. 
Birdsell's invention, as manifested in the combined clover- 
machines, is an absolute necessity at the present day. 

Moreover, the invention has so completely revolutionized 
the art of getting out clover-seed, that none of the old appli- 
ances can now be found anywhere in the country. 

Deponent also says, that the defendants in Mr. Birdsell's 
Ohio cases must have expended much greater sums in de- 
fending themselves than did Mr. Birdsell in the prosecution, 
for, while the said defendants and their co-contributors were 
reputed to be very wealthy corporations, the said McDonald 
& Co. of Wooster, Ohio, the Ashland Machine Co. of Ash- 
land, Ohio, and the Glen & Hall Manufacturing Co. of 
Rochester, New York, all failed and made assignments before 
the said Ohio suits were finally decided in Mr. Birdsell's 
favor. Edwin R. St. John. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 18th day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. O. B. Maples, 

[l. s.l Notary Public. 



BEFOIIE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to hear and 
determine his Application for Extension of his Letters- 
Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing Clover. 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss : 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and 
county, personally appeared George V. Glover, who being 
by me duly sworn, deposes and says : I am a resident of 
South Bend ; am forty-eight years of age, and by occupation 
ex-sheriff of St. Joseph county, now retired. I am ac- 
quainted with the petitioner, John C. Birdsell, and have 
known him intimately \\>v eighteen years past. I am also 
familiar with his invention in clover-hnllers, secured to him 
by letters-patent, reissue Xo. 1299, for machine for hulling 
and threshing clover, and with the prior state of the art. 
Before Mr. Birdsell's invention, there was no machine in exist- 
ence that would take clover on the straw, thresh the heads 
therefrom, separate the heads from the stems, and while the 
straw was conveyed away pass the heads through a hulling 
device that would hull out the seed, and then clean the seed 
and blow out the chaff — all at one operation. But, on the 
contrary, the plans employed before Mr. Birdsell's invention 
was to gather the heads from the stems in the field by a strip- 
per, or by a cradle, made to cut high, and being so covered 
with canvas as to catch the heads as they were severed from 
the stems. It was then taken to a barn, spread upon the 
floor, and the seed separated or hulled out by threshing with 
flails or by the trampling of horses, etc, It was then gath- 
ered up, and cleaned by passing it through an ordinary fan- 
ning-mill. Or, if the clover, hay and all, was first cut in the 
field, it was afterwards passed through an ordinary grain 
threshing-machine, which threshed the heads from the straw, 
though much seed passed over to the stack with the straw 
and was wasted. The heads were then shoveled up and 
passed through a bolt, in order to separate such short straw 
from the chaff as w r as not readily raked therefrom. The 
heads and chaff were then shoveled up and put through a 
huller to hull the seeds from the pods, and it was generally 
necessary to shovel back, so as to pass the chaff several times 
through the machine. 

Mr. Birdsell's invention was a radical departure from 



9 

what had been done before; and inasmuch as it took the 
clover on the long straw, and in a single passage through 
the machine, and at one single handling did ail that had 
been before done with several handlings and the employ- 
ment of two or more machines, the cose of getting out the 
seed was immediately reduced from one to two dollars per 
bushel; and, inasmuch as the work was all done at one oper- 
ation and in one passage through the machine, the work could 
be done in the Held. 

This completely revolutionized the clover-seed interest 
in the United States. It so reduced the cost of the seed 
in the market that .ordinary farmers could afford to pur- 
chase it for the purpose of turning under a clover crop to 
enrich the soil. Moreover, the producer could sell his seed 
with as great profit to himself, though at a much lower 
price. He was enabled to reach customers who prior to 
that time were not consumers, because of the former high 
price of seed. The producer, therefore, could raise and dis- 
pose of a much larger crop of seed. Moreover, the machine 
would do the same amount of work in a single day that 
before required four or live days. Consequently one machine, 
like a gram-thresher, could do the work for a whole neighbor- 
hood. 

This machine of Mr. Birdsell's was denominated the com- 
bined machine, because it would thresh, hull, and clean the 
clover at one operation. The combined clover-machine 
soon became an indispensable necessity; and at the present 
day the Birdsell machine — i. e., the combined machine — is 
absolutely essential wherever clover-seed is raised. 

This invention established a new industry, for before that 
time farmers generally raised and got out their own seed, as 
much as might be needed for their own use, while now the 
seed is raised in large quantities in clover districts and shipped 
therefrom to all parts of the world, inasmuch as the reduction 
in its price, created by this invention, has brought it within 
ready reach of all. 

I am familiar with the difficulties Mr. Birdsell has encoun- 
tered in endeavoring to derive remuneration from his inven- 
tion ; and it has been a matter of notoriety in the neighborhood 
where he has resided and done business that, although he has 
exercised good business tact and great energy and persever- 
ance, he has throughout been greatly embarrassed : first, by 
the financial crisis of 1857 and 1858, which, coming in the 
early years of his patent, effected a general prostration of 
manufacturing interests throughout the country. This was 

9 



10 

followed by the war, which destroyed this branch of agricul- 
tural interests, and the tact that grain and not clover was 
almost the entire crop raised after the war until 1867 and 
1868. He has also lost largely by fires at several different 
times, both at Henrietta and South Bend. 

This was succeeded by the necessity of an extension of his 
patent in 1872, against great opposition, and an enormous 
amount of expensive litigation with infringers, in order to 
establish his rights under his patent, extending from that time 
to the present. 

It has also been a matter of public notoriety in Ins neighbor- 
hood, and well known to me, that he has for many years past 
been carrying a large debt, which he lias incurred by the 
vicissitudes of his elover-huller business, and that at no time 
prior to the last two seasons has he been regarded as doing a 
living business and deriving any profit. So greatly was our 
community interested in his struggles against bis infringers, 
that when he finally gained a decisive victory over them in 
the Northern District of ( >hio, before Justice Noah II. Swayne, 
and the news was telegraphed to South Bend, the dispatch 
was sent by the operator to all the various manufacturing 
establishments in the city, and their whistles were blown i'ov 
half an hour; there was also a display of flags and ringing of 
bells. 

For several years past I have been intimately connected 
witli Mr. Birdsell and his company, in the capacity of in- 
dorser, when the nature and extent of their debts became so 
alarming as to require the substantial support of their friends 
in order to escape bankruptcy. Tn this capacity I also assisted 
personally in the direction and management of their busi- 
ness, and became thoroughly familiar with it in all its various 
details and with its whole history. 

AVhile McDonald & Co. and the Ashland Machine Com- 
pany, the defendants in Mr. BirdselPs Ohio cases, were taking 
testimony at South Bend, Indiana, I chanced to meet Angus 
McDonald, of said McDonald & Co., at Laporte, Indiana, 
and he remarked in my presence that they would crush Mr. 
Birdsell with money, and would law him until they used him 
up, and then they would have the clover-machine business 
all their own way; that Birdsell would eventually have to 
give up, as his counsel would refuse to work without pay. 
Deponent also knows, from the character of the defense in 
those cases, their counsel, and the wide field of search and 
inquiry, that the expenses of the defendants must have been 
enormous. The said McDonald & Co., before the final decree 



11 

was obtained, failed, with liabilities reported at about three- 
quarters of a million of dollars; and the Ashland Machine 
Company likewise tailed before final decree, with liabilities 
reported at about a quarter of a million dollars. Moreover, 
the defendants were assisted by contributions from the Glen 
& Hall Manufacturing Company of Rochester, lew York, 
and other prominent infringers. This latter firm likewise 
suspended and made assignment. Deponent is therefore of 
the opinion that, in their endeavor to crush Mr. Birdsell with 
money and use him up, their expenses swamped themselves 
instead of Birdsell. 

Geo. Y. Glover. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 21st day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. 0. B. Maples, 
[l. .s] Notary Public. 



12 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act of 
Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for an Extension of 
his Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of Indiana, < 1 ounty of St. Joseph, ss: 

Before me personally appeared Thomas S. Stanfield of 
South Bend, Indiana, and by me, a notary public in and for 
said county and State, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 
I am sixty-one years of age, and my occupation, formerly 
circuit judge, now farmer. I have been well acquainted 
with the petitioner, John C. Birdsell, for many years past, 
and was aware of the fact that he was laboring constantly 
for many years, and until the present season of 1877, against 
large indebtedness, growing out of his business in the man- 
ufacture of combined clover-machines, under his letters- 
patent, reissue No. 1,299. In his endeavors to obtain money, 
at various times from 1872 down to the present time, I have 
indorsed his paper and made myself responsible for its pay- 
ment. 

These debts on the part of Mr. Birdsell have been caused 
principally by his being obliged to contesl many expensive 
suits against the factors constituting a coalition of infringers, 
who combined with the ostensible object of defying his patent 
and destroying his business, so as to thwart any attempt at 
satisfaction that lie might make against them. Mi'. Birdsell 
is a man of good character, great energy and persistence, 
and had, by borrowed money and upon business credit, 
erected large works at South Bend, Indiana, and given em- 
ployment to a great number of hands in the manufacture of 
clover-machines under his patent. When, therefore, it was 
found that he was being absolutely crushed by defiant in- 
fringers, there was a very general sentiment in our commu- 
nity in favor of assisting him and maintaining his business 
integrity until he could obtain decrees sustaining his rights. 
This was finally accomplished; and when lie finally obtained 
those favorable decrees in the two test cases in the Northern 
District of Ohio against McDonald & Co. et at. and the Ash- 
land Machine Company et at., the telegraphic news of same 
was received at South Bend by the blowing of whistles and 



13 

ringing of bells by all the manufacturing establishments, and 
a general display of nags. 

Having become an indorser for Mr. Birdsell, I took pains 
to familiarize myself with his business, and my knowledge 
of his business affairs satisfies me that he has not, until the 
last two seasons, (except a fair business for two or three years 
before building his new shops), been able to do anything like 
a fair, remunerative business; and not until the last season of 
1877 has he gained a permanent business advantage over his 
infringers. Moreover, the machines of infringers still exist 
in the market, and will outlive his present term of the patent, 
and to that extent do now and will hereafter impair the 
market for his machines. Tjios. J. Stanfield. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 18th day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. 0. B. Maples, 
[l. s.] Notary Public. 



14 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for an Extension of 
his Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss : 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and 
county, personally appeared William Miller, and being by 
me duly sworn, he deposes and says: I am a resident of 
South Bend, Indiana ; am 56 years of age. and by occupation 
a banker. Am cashier of the South Bend National Bank. 
In my capacity of banker I have been for many years cogni- 
zant of the fact that Mr. John C. Birdsell has been struggling 
against constant business adversity and financial embarrass- 
ment, and which until the past year has not been relieved. I 
am aware that lor years his indebtedness amounted to up- 
wards of ($100,000) one hundred thousand dollars, caused 
by expenditures rendered necessary in the prosecution of his 
business of manufacturing combined clover-machines. I am 
also aware, that had it not been for the public sympathy for 
him and against the mass of infringers who have persistently 
violated his rights and defied him in the courts, and the 
public faith in his ability, backed by great energy and per- 
severance, to eventually secure his rights and meet his 
indebtedness, he would undoubtedly have been thrown into 
bankruptcy. Mr. Birdsell's greatest embarrassments have 
been since 1872, and extending down to the present season. 

Deponent recollects the public demonstrations of appro- 
bation and encouragement extended to Mr. Birdsell at the 
time he obtained decrees in the Northern District of Ohio, 
before Justice Swayne, sustaining his patent. The different 
manufacturing establishments throughout the city blowed 
their whistles and rang their bells, for half an hour, simulta- 
neously. 

Deponent is also aware that the general financial depres- 
sion throughout the country for a few years past has served 
in a great degree to increase Mr. Birdsell's financial troubles, 
by general depression of trade and difficulty iu realizing 
returns from sales. 

¥m. Miller. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 19th day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. O. B. Maples, 

[l. s.] Notary Public. 



15 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of New York, County of Monroe, ss : 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State .and county, 
personally appeared B. H. Ketchum, and being by me duly 
sworn, he deposes and says: I am 41 years of age; reside at 
"West Henrietta, Xew York, and am by occupation farmer. 
I was well acquainted with John C. Birdsell at the time he 
procured his letters-patent for clover thresher and huller, 
and thereafter until he moved from Henrietta to South Bend, 
Indiana, in 1863 and 1864. I was also familiar with the 
methods employed for getting out clover-seed prior to the 
Birdsell patent. Before that time, clover-heads were usually 
gathered from the stems in the Held by an instrument known 
as a stripper, which simply severed the heads from the stems 
and left the stems standing ; the heads thus gathered were 
then spread upon a floor and subjected to the action of flails 
or trampling of horses until the seed was separated from the 
pods ; the whole mass was then raked to remove the larger 
of the short stems, and then passed through a holt to sepa- 
rate the shorter stems and unhulled heads; the mass was 
then again shoveled up and passed several times through a 
hulling-machine to get out and clean the seed. This process 
was very slow and tedious. Moreover, it was very expensive, 
becaiise'of the time and labor employed. At the same time, 
very much seed was wasted in the operation of stripping, and 
much was left in the chaff unhulled. Sometimes the clover 
was gathered on the straw, then put through an ordinary 
grain-thresher to break the heads from the stems ; the heads 
and chaff were then raked to remove the longer of the short 
stems passed over with the chaff, and then passed through a 
bolt to clear it of the short stems ; the chaff was then shov- 
eled up and passed several times through a huller to get out 
and clean the seed. This process, with which I was the more 
familiar, like the other, entailed great loss of seed by imper- 
fect threshing and separating, and was very expensive in 
time and labor required. Mr. Birdsell then devised his 
machine, which at one single passage through it, and in 



16 

a single continuous operation, and at one handling, would 
take the clover on the straw, thresh the heads therefrom, 
pass the straw out, but separate and carry the heads and chaff 
through a hulling-machine, which would hull the seed from 
the pods, and then, in passing over a shoe of sieves, would 
blow out the chaff and dust and collect the seed in clean con- 
dition and with practically no wastage of seed. 

By this invention, the cost of getting out clover-seed was 
reduced one to two dollars per bushel ; clover-seed was put 
into the market at a price within the reach of all ; farmers 
could afford to sow clover-seed for the purpose of turning 
under, once in three or five years, to enrich their soil ; others 
could engage in the raising of seed as a special industry, 
owing to the greatly-increased number of consumers. 

The financial crisis of 1857 and 1858, together with the 
extreme difficulties he met witli in his endeavors to introduce 
his machines, and the war breaking out in 1860 and 1861, so 
injured his business that he became largely involved with 
debt, and was consequently obliged to move West in 1863 
and 18Q4, in the hopes of being able to establish there a busi- 
ness that would support him under his patent. 

My personal knowledge of his affairs ceased at that time ; 
but it has been common report amongst his old neighbors in 
my vicinity, for many years past, that he was having great 
financial difficulties, owing to infringers and the vicissitudes 
of his business, and was largely in debt. 

Mr. Birdsell was always a man of great energy and good 
business abilities, and I am satisfied that his failure to derive 
profit from his invention has been from no fault or neglect 
on his own part. B. H. Ivetchum. 



Subscribed and sworn to, this 23d day of January, A. D. 
1878. Chauncey Nash, 

[ L - s -] Notary Public. 



17 



IX THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing 
Clover. 

State of Indiana, County of St. Joseph, ss: 

Before me, a notary public in and for St, Joseph county, 
State of Indiana, personally appeared Joseph W. Dougal of 
Ontario, county of Richland, State of Ohio, and, being duly 
sworn, deposes and says : That he is of the age of thirty-seven 
years, and by occupation a farmer and dealer in agricultural 
machinery; that previously he was general traveling agent 
for the firm of McDonald & Co. of Wooster, Ohio, who 
were engaged in the manufacture and sale of combined 
clover-separators, of a kind substantially like those manufac- 
tured by the Birdsell Manufacturing Company of South 
Bend, Indiana, under patents granted to John C. Birdsell ; 
and that said combined clover-separators, so manufactured 
by the said McDonald & Co., were substantially the same in 
operation and effect; and that during the time he so acted as 
such general traveling agent for said McDonald & Co. — com- 
mencing with the year 1872 and ending with the year -18 75 — 
he traveled in the States of Ohio and Indiana, appointing 
local agents, directing and supervising their work, and assist- 
ing them in making sales of said combined clover-separators, 
and also in making sales himself direct to purchasers; and 
that in so making such appointments, directing, supervising, 
and assisting, and making sales direct, he learned that, almost 
without exception, both agents and purchasers, and intending 
purchasers, were fully aware and advised that John C. Bird- 
sell and the Birdsell Manufacturing Company had published 
cautions, and had made threats of proceeding against users 
of combined clover-separators, as infringers against the pat- 
ent so granted to John C. Birdsell. 

Deponent further says, that the said firm of McDonald & 
Co. w^ere also fully aware and advised of such cautions being 
published, and that the publication was generally known 
among agents and dealers in agricultural implements and 
machines" and also among professional threshers of grain and 
seeds; and that, to counteract the effect of such knowledge 



18 

and publication of caution, the said McDonald & Co. in- 
structed their general and local agents to give in their name 
such assurances and guarantees as would disarm purchasers 
and intending purchasers from any fears they might have 
of being prosecuted for their infringements by John C. 
Birdsell and the Birdsell Manufacturing Company; that de- 
ponent, acting under the instructions so received from said 
McDonald & Co., in making sales of such combined clover- 
separators, did make such assurances and guarantees to pur- 
chasers thereof, and make offers of such assurances and guar- 
antees to intending purchasers, and advised and authorized 
the local agents under his direction to make like assurances 
and guarantees. 

Deponent further says, that, during the last two years he 
was engaged with said McDonald & Co., it was a matter of 
frequent conversation by the members of the firm with their 
confidential employes that their only hope was to bankrupt 
John C. Birdsell and the Birdsell Manufacturing Company, 
which bankruptcy they expressed as being imminent, as they 
w T ere informed and believed; that Angus McDonald, of the 
said firm of McDonald <fe Co., told this deponent that he had 
a man in the office of the Birdsell .Manufacturing Company 
who was furnishing him with information relating to the 
troubles, difficulties, and matters tending to impair the credit 
of John C. Birdsell and the Birdsell .Manufacturing Company; 
that said Angus McDonald claimed, from his knowledge and 
information so received, that the event of the failure of said 
John C. Birdsell and the Birdsell Manufacturing Company 
was not far distant. 

Deponent further says, that said McDonald & Co. sold, ami 
authorized the sale by their agents of the combined clover- 
separators so manufactured by them, at prices which afforded 
but little if any profit, wherever they came into close compe- 
tition with the combined clover-separators manufactured by 
the Birdsell Manufacturing Company; that said McDonald 
& Co. also authorized, in cases of such competition, the sale 
of their combined clover-separators on long time — longer than 
other machinery and implements. • 

Deponent further says, that where the competition was 
strong, sales were made and authorized to be made t8 pur- 
chasers without having reference or due regard to the solv- 
ency or financial ability of such purchasers, and that such 
sales were made with the view of supplying the market with 
such combined clover-separators, so as to defeat sales of the 
combined clover-separators manufactured by the Birdsell 



19 

Manufacturing Company, and hold their combined clover- 
separators on the market exposed and unsold. 
1 J. W. Dougal. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 24th day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1878. 0. B. Maples, 
J Notary Public. 



20 



BEFOEE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter oe John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to hear and 
determine his Application for Extension of his Letters- 
Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing Clover. 

State of Ohio, Williams County, ss : 

Personally appeared before me, Milton B. Plummer, a 
notary public in and for the said county of Williams, and as 
such duly authorized to administer oaths for general pur- 
poses, Abijah II. Corbitt, whose post-office address is Bryan, 
State of Ohio, and who, being by me duly sworn, deposes 
and says: That for live years last past he has been engag- 
ed in selling agricultural implements in Williams county, 
Ohio, and vicinity, and has had the agency during that 
time of the selling of the clover-huller manufactured by the 
Birdsell Manufacturing Company of South Bend. State 
of Indiana; that while engaged in selling said huller he has 
been met with strong competition from the Wooster huller 
agents, manufactured by McDonald & Co. at Wooster, 
Wayne county. State of Ohio, especially from one John 
Smith, who was first a local and then a general agent of 
said McDonald k Co., when the affiant would advise parties 
who would talk with him about the merits of the two 
hullers — to wit, that manufactured by Mcl>onald & Co. and 
that manufactured by the Birdsell Manufacturing Company — 
that the said McDonald & Co. huller was an infringement 
upon the rights secured by letters-patent to John C. Birdsell, 
and that they would be liable to the Birdsell Manufacturing 
Company in damages, if they purchased and used the 
McDonald «fc Co. huller — he was uniformly met with the reply 
that McDonald cv Co. would guarantee them against any 
trouble or damage resulting to the Birdsell Manufacturing 
Company. Several parties whom he (affiant) has conversed 
with on the subject have told him that they had a guaranty 
from said Smith that they should meet with no trouble. 
Among those who have so conversed with him are John 
Freese and Christian Freese, of Washington township, in De- 
fiance county, Ohio, and one Allman, who resides in the 
northwest part of said Williams county. There are other 
parties that he might mention, if he could recollect their 
names, but cannot at this moment, who have had similar 
conversations with him. 



21 

He knows that such representations and guarantees of the 
agents of said McDonald did very materially hurt the sale 
of the clover-huller manufactured by the Birdsell Manufac- 
turing Company. He gets this knowledge mainly from 
parties who purchased the clover-huller manufactured by 
McDonald & Co.; that some of the parties who gave him 
such information were parties to whom he had tried to sell 
the Birdsell huller; others, parties with whom he had tried to 
settle the damages with for the infringement upon the said 
Birdsell patent. Abijah H. Cobbett. 

Sworn to by said Abijah H. Corbett before me, and by 
him subscribed in my presence, this 24th day of January, A. 
D. 1878. Milton B. Plummee, 

Ll. s.] Notary Public. 



22 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
of Congress authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to 
hear and determine his Application for Extension of his 
Letters-Patent for Machine for Threshing and Hulling 
Clover. 

State of Ohio, County of Williams, ss: 

Personally appeared before me, a notary public in and for 
said county, and as such duly authorized to administer oaths 
for general purposes, on this 24th day of January, A. D. 1878, 
at Bryan, in said county of Williams, Charles C. Hubbell, 
whose post-office address is Bryan, Ohio, and who being by 
me first duly sworn, as hereinafter certified, deposes and 
says : That he moved to said Bryan about ten years ago, and 
has resided there ever since ; that he has the most of the time 
since he first moved to Bryan been engaged in the business 
of selling agricultural implements; that about the spring of 
A. D. 1869 he was employed with one Jefferson Miller, a 
hardware merchant in said Bryan, in the agency of selling 
the Birdsell Manufacturing Company's clover-huller, manu- 
factured at South Bend. State of Indiana, controlling the 
sales of said huller in the counties of Williams and Defiance, 
in said State of Ohio, and from that time to the present been 
more or less engaged in the business of selling said hullers in 
said counties of Williams and Defiance; that about 1869, 
one John W. Smith, of said Bryan, became a local agent, 
and afterwards a general agent, to sell the AVooster clover- 
huller, manufactured by McDonald & Co. of Wooster, State 
of Ohio, and continued to be the agent of said McDonald & 
Co. from that date so long as they continued to do business, 
and continues still their assignee's or trustee's agent in closing 
up their business ; that said Smith was a very active agent 
for said McDonald & Co., and sold a large number of their 
clover-hullers ; that about 1870, at the request of said Birdsell 
Manufacturing Company, he (affiant) served a printed notice on 
said Smith, as such agent of McDonald & Co., that the clover- 
huller was an infringement on the patent of John C. Birdsell, 
one of the firm of said Birdsell Manufacturing Company and 
patentee of said Birdsell Manufacturing Company's clover- 
huller, and notifying him, the said Smith, as such agent, that 
he must not sell any more of said Wooster hullers, and if he 
did lie would be held responsible by said Birdsell Manufac- 



23 

turing Company for so doing ; the said Smith replied, among 
other things, that he was not afraid of said Birdsell Manu- 
facturing Company, and should continue to sell all "Wooster 
hullers he could ; that he did thereafter continue to sell said 
hullers for said McDonald & Co., and sold a good many of 
their hullers after that, and continued to sell what he could 
so long as said Wooster huller was "being manufactured, and 
until said company failed in business ; that said Smith, as 
such agent for said McDonald & Co., gave and continued to 
give, while agent engaged in selling, guarantees to purchasers 
of said Wooster huller, against any and all damages that might 
result or accrue to said Birdsell Manufacturing Company on 
account of the letters-patent of the said John C. Birdsell on 
account thereof, and, to the knowledge of this affiant, did sell 
said Wooster huller to parties this affiant had about induced 
to purchase said Birdsell Manufacturing Company's huller, 
by so guaranteeing the said Wooster huller to be no infringe- 
ment, and that he would indemnify the party so purchasing 
against any and all damages resulting from the use of the 
huller he sold ; that one such party is George Fisher of Mil- 
ford township, Defiance county, Ohio ; that said Fisher so 
told him (affiant) ; another such man is one Allman of North 
West township, in said county of Williams, and another man, 
whose name he does not remember, but who resides in the 
north part of said county of Williams ; that in a conversation 
with said Smith, about the middle of last January, in Bryan, 
he stated to him that he did guarantee to parties that he sold 
said Wooster huller to that he would stand between them and 
all harm that should result from the said Birdsell Manufac- 
turing Company on account of bis selling said Wooster huller 
to such parties," and that he was going to do it; that he had 
his lawyer hired to look after that "matter in the United States 
courts, and that it should not cost one of the parties who pur- 
chased a Wooster huller of him one cent; that about 1870 
he received a very saucy and threatening letter from McDonald 
& Co., directed personally to him, saying, among other things, 
that they would prosecute him if he continued to state that 
their huller was an infringement upon the said Birdsell huller, 
but that he has lost said letter. 

Affiant says, that said Wooster huller, manufactured by said 
McDonald & Co., is a double-cylinder huller, and is substan- 
tially and in its effect constructed like the Birdsell Manufac- 
turing Company's huller. 

Affiant further says, that, to his certain knowledge, said 
Smith has prevented men who purchased the Wooster huller 
4 



24 



of him from settling with said Birdsell Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and that he has heard him state that he did prevent 
men from settling, and intended to do so. What he meant 
was, the damages that said Birdsell Manufacturing Company 
should sustain, and have a right to recover of McDonald & 
Co., for infringements of their patents, if any. 

Charles C. Hubbell. 

Sworn to hy the said Charles C. Hubbell before me, and 
by him subscribed in my presence, this 24th day of January, 
A. D. 1878. Milton B. Plummer, 

[l. s.] Notary Public. 



25 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to hear and 
determine his Application for Extension of his Letters- 
Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing Clover. 

District of Columbia, Washington, ss : 

Before me, a justice of the peace in and for said District of 
Columbia, personally appeared John H. Baker, and being by 
me duly sworn, deposes and says : 

I am about 46 years of age ; reside at Goshen, in the State 
of Indiana, and by occupation am at present member of Con- 
gress from the Thirteenth District of Indiana. 

I am acquainted with the petitioner, John C. Birdsell of 
South Bend, Indiana. 

About the month of August, 1872, when Mr. Birdsell was 
about to commence suits against McDonald & Co. etal. and the 
Ashland Machine Company et at. in the United States Circuit 
Court for the Northern District of Ohio, for infringement of 
his letters-patent for machinery for hulling and threshing 
clover, I was employed by him as counsel to go with him 
to visit the said infringing parties, and others, to induce them 
to settle w T ith him without litigation. 

While in conversation with Angus McDonald, of said 
McDonald & Co., at Wooster, Ohio, he, the said McDonald, 
remarked, in a defiant manner, in substance, that if Mr. Bird- 
sell dared to bring suit against them, they had enough money 
and would law him with it until they used him up, and until 
his patent would expire, and then they would have things 
their own way in the clover-machine business. In support 
of his threat, Mr. McDonald showed his commercial rating to 
be about $250,000, and that of one of the company to be 
about $500,000, as nearly as I now recollect, and they utterly 
refused to settle on any terms whatever. 

John II. Baker. 

Subsribed and sworn to before me, this 2d day of February, 
A. D. 1878. 

B. W. Ferguson, [seal] 
Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia. 



26 



State of Wisconsin, County of Milwaukee, ss: 

Before me, a notary public in and for said county, person- 
ally appeared William F. Whitney, who being duly sworn, 
deposes and says : That heretofore — to wit, in and during the 
years 1871 and 1872 — the deponent was the authorized agent 
for the sale of agricultural machinery for the Glen & Hall 
Manufacturing Company of Eochester, in the State of Kew 
York ; that said company was, among other things, engaged 
in the manufacture and sale of a combined clover huller, 
thresher, and separator, and that, during deponent's said 
agency, he learned, by rumors coming to him. that John C. 
Birdsell claimed and insisted that the combined clover sepa- 
rator, huller, &c, so manufactured by said Glen & I hill Manu- 
facturing Company, were an infringement on letters-patent 
granted to him, the said John C. Birdsell. by the United States 
of America; that after hearing such rumors, as aforesaid, the 
deponent saw one Eugene Glen, a member of said Glen k 
Hall Manufacturing Company, and that the deponent stated 
to said Glen, substantially, the rumors that had reached him, 
and his information in regard to said infringement, and also 
stated his (deponent's) fears that he would be put to some 
inconvenience by said John C. Birdsell, or his represen- 
tatives, on account of said alleged infringements by said 
Glen & Hall Manufacturing Company; and that deponent 
then and there asked said Glen to assure, warrant, or indem- 
nify him, the deponent, against loss or damage on account 
of said alleged infringements, and on account of depo- 
nent's action as agent of the said Glen & Hall Manufac- 
turing Company as aforesaid, in selling the clover machines 
made by them as aforesaid; and that said Eugene Glen did 
then and there promise, for himself and for the Glen & Hall 
Manufacturing Company, to warrant, protect, and indemnify 
the deponent against any damage or loss on account of such 
sales as their agent aforesaid. 

Deponent further says, that he had at that time, and there- 
after, until about the time the said Glen & Hall Manfactur- 
ing Company discontinued their business as manufacturers 
aforesaid, the property of the said company, amounting to 
some hundreds of dollars, in his possession as their agent 
aforesaid, and that deponent did, under the circumstances, 
consider himself indemnified by the said company against loss 
or damage by reason of the claims of said John C. Birdsell, 
for infringement of his letters-patent as aforesaid, incase any 
such damage should be caused the deponent by reason of any 



27 

suit or suits at law, or judgments obtained against deponent 
in any court, in consequence of Ms sales of said combined 
clover thresher and huller, for the Glen & Hall Manufac- 
turing Company, as aforesaid. And further, this deponent 
says not. 

W. F. Whitney. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 28th January, 

1878. 

Geo. C. Keller, [seal] 
Notary Public, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin. 



28 



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— 


Z-.- =^±T~ "" 


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- 


:■■ =^ 


EE" 


_, 




.. 




- _ -^ 


-Mr — ^ 



1 


~~~~ '~~\ 












J§g^ 


idfen 


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I'limB 



tg 



This Engraving Represents 

ONE METHOD OF THRESHING CLOVER FROM THE STRAW 

PRIOR TO 1859. 




i J ,;, ,; 



This Engraving Represents 



A BOLT USED TO SEPARATE CHAFF FROM THE STRAW OR STALKS 
PREPARATORY TO ITS BEING HULLED. 



29 




This Engraving Represents 

THE SINGLE RASP HULLER FOR HULLING CLOVER FROM THE 
CHAFF, USED BY THE PATENTEE PRIOR TO THE INVENT- 
ING OF THE COMBINED CLOVER THRESHER 
AND SEPARATOR. 




This Engraving Represents 

J. C. BIRDSELL'S CLOVER HULLING AND THRESHING MACHINE. 

PATENTED, 1858; REISSUED, APRIL 8, 1862. 

No. 1,299. 



30 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to hear and 
determine his Application for Extension of his Letters- 
Patent for Machine for Hulling and Threshing Clover. 

State of Ohio, County of Cuyahoga, ss: 

Before me, a notary public in and for said county and 
State, personally appeared Zalmon S. Stocking, and being 
duly sworn, he deposes and says: I reside at Cleveland, in 
the State of Ohio; am 58 years of ago, and by occupation 
am interested in the manufacture of clover machinery. I 
am acquainted with the invention in clover machinery as 
secured to John C. Birdsell by his reissued letters-patent 
No. 1299, upon which this petition is based. This invention 
worked a great revolution in the art of getting out clover- 
seed. Before his invention it required separate operations 
and several times handling. Clover-heads were frequently 
stripped from the stems in the field, then trampled out by 
horses on the barn-floor t<> separate the seed. The heads, 
chaff, and seed were then swept up, put through a bolt to 
separate the stems, and the unbroken heads, the chaff, and 
the seed were then shoveled several times through a huller 
to get out and clean the seed. Sometimes, however, the seed 
was gathered as follows: The clover was cut with the stems 
or hay; this was then passed through an ordinary grain- 
thresher to separate the heads from the stems; the former 
was then raked and bolted to remove the longer stems, and 
the product of the bolt was passed through a huller to get 
out and clean the seed. Then came Mr. BirdselFs inven- 
tion, which, with one single handling, did the whole work of 
threshing, separating, hulling, and cleaning and gathering 
the seed, all at one single, continuous operation, and with 
one passage through the machine. It enabled the operators 
to get out four or live times the amount of seed in a given 
time that could formerly be gotten out in the same time. 
It also dispensed with many hands. It enabled the farmer 
to have done in the field what formerly had to be done on a 
barn-floor, and thereby saved the time and trouble of haul- 
ing. The result was to reduce the cost of getting out clover- 
seed at least one or two dollars per bushel. This result was 
prolific of other very great results, to wit : clover-seed was 
brought within the reach of all; wastage was prevented, and 



31 

the yield correspondingly increased. Consumers greatly mul- 
tiplied, and the raising of clover-seed, as a special industry, 
was established, and the seed, as an article of commerce, is 
raised in various sections for shipment all over the world. 
It brought within the range of farmers a crop productive in 
its nature, not interfering with other crops, and furnished 
him with the most efficacious means of enriching his soil, by 
turning under the second growth after a crop of seed had 
been gathered. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set mv hand, this 
fourth (4th) day of February, A. D. 1878. 

Zalmon S. Stocking. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, a notary public in and 
for the county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, this fourth 
day of February, A. P. 1878. 

r L -. Jno. Crowell, Jr., 

L ' "J Notary Public. 



BEFORE THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the Matter of John C. Birdsell, Petitioner for an Act 
authorizing the Commissioner of Patents to hear and 
determine his Application tor Letters-Patent for Ma- 
chinery for Hulling and Threshing Clover. 

State of New York, County of Richland, ss. 

Before me, a notary public in and for said State and county, 
personally appeared John B. Croft, and being by me duly 
sworn, he deposes and says: I reside at Mansfield, Ohio ; am 
41 years of age, and am by occupation dealer in agricultural 
implements, and as such have my own agents in numerous 
places in the Western States. During several years since 
1872, I acted as the agent of the Hagerstown Agricultural 
Implement Manufacturing Company of Hagerstown, Mary- 
land, in selling and disposing of their combined clover ma- 
chines, and by myself and my numerous agents did sell a large 
number of the said Hagerstown machines. In making such 
sales, owing to the cautions that had been spread by the Bird- 
sell Manufacturing Company amongst nearly all the farmers 
and dealers in the country, we found it impossible to make 
sales of machines except by guaranteeing purchasers against 
all damages they might be liable for, by reason of the machine 



32 

being an infringement upon the Patent No. 1299, granted to 
John C. Birdsell. I was therefore instructed by the Hagers- 
town Company, and I instructed in like manner my sub- 
agents, to issue the said guarantees, in order to effect sales of 
the machines of the said Hagerstown Agricultural Imple- 
ment Manufacturing Company, and the machines were sold 
in that way. I am aware that the said John C. Birdsell- and 
Birdsell Manufacturing Company have, since that time, 
obtained a decree for infringement against the said Hagers- 
town Company in the United States Circuit Court at Balti- 
more, Maryland. And further deponent saith not. 

John B. Croft. 

Sworn and subscribed before me, at Mansfield, Ohio, this 
5th day of February, A. D. 1878. 

[l. s.] Israel S. Donnell, 

Notary Public, Richland Co., Ohio. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 758 800 1 



I 



